Groupe Union Défense (originally named ''Groupe Union Droit''), better known as GUD, was a French

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

students' union A students' union or student union, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, organizat ...

formed in the 1960s. After a period of inactivity it relaunched in 2022. The GUD was based in Panthéon-Assas University, a law school in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. On 26 June 2024, the French government ordered the dissolution of the GUD.

Ideology

Formed as

anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

youth organization, in the mid-1980s, the GUD turned toward support of the

Third Position The Third Position is a set of neo-fascist political ideologies that were first described in Western Europe following the Second World War. Developed in the context of the Cold War, it developed its name through the claim that it represented ...

movements and " national revolutionary" theories, as well as embracing

anti-Zionism Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the Palestine (region) ...

anti-Americanism Anti-Americanism (also called anti-American sentiment and Americanophobia) is a term that can describe several sentiments and po ...

and support for

Hafez al-Assad Hafez al-Assad (6 October 193010 June 2000) was a Syrian politician and military officer who was the president of Syria from 1971 until Death and state funeral of Hafez al-Assad, his death in 2000. He was previously the Prime Minister of Syria ...

Culture

GUD took as symbol the

Celtic cross upright 0.75 , A Celtic cross symbol The Celtic cross is a form of ringed cross, a Christian cross featuring a nimbus or ring, that emerged in the British Isles and Western Europe in the Early Middle Ages. It became widespread through its u ...

and the

comic a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicat ...

''black rats'' (''rats noirs''). Some music groups of Rock identitaire français had connections with GUD.

History

image:Le GUD manifestant le 13 mai 2012.JPG, Members of the GUD during demonstration in

in 2012 GUD was founded in December 1968 under the name ''Union Droit'' at Panthéon-Assas University by , Gérard Longuet, Gérard Ecorcheville and some members of the political movement ''Occident''. In its early period, it was a reactionary bourgeois student movement, and some of its early members went on to become mainstream conservative politicians, including Gérard Longuet,

Hervé Novelli Hervé Novelli (born 6 March 1949) is a French politician of Italian origin, and a past member of the UDF group. He was a deputé in the Assemblée Nationale for the Indre-et-Loire département from 2002 to 2007, having previously been a dépu ...

and

Alain Madelin Alain Madelin (; born 26 March 1946) is a French politician. Politician Madelin was minister of Industry in Prime Minister Jacques Chirac's cabinet from 1986 to 1988, a minister of Business in Prime Minister Édouard Balladur's cabinet f ...

. Members of the GUD participated in the 1969 founding of Ordre Nouveau. During the 1970s and early 1980s, linked to the Parti des forces nouvelles (PFN), the GUD published the

satiric Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposing or ...

monthly ''Alternative''. Members in this period included

Alain Orsoni Alain Orsoni (; born 27 September 1954) is a Corsican politician and former FLNC militant and former president of AC Ajaccio. Founder of the FLNC-Canal Habituel (Corsican: Canale Abituale, FLNC-CA) and its political wing, the Movement for Self-D ...

, a Corsican nationalist linked to organised crime and suspected of the murder of Marie-Jeanne Bozzi. On 9 May 1994 GUD member died after clashes between nationalists and

riot police Riot police are police who are organized, deployed, trained or equipped to confront crowds, protests or riots. Riot police may be regular police officers who act in the role of riot police in particular situations, or they may be separate unit ...

. Following these event, some French nationalist groups formed an umbrella organization Comité du 9-Mai (C9M) and holds yearly a commemorative marches in Paris on May 9. In 1998, the Group united itself with ''Jeune Résistance'' and the ''Union des cercles résistance'', offshoots of Nouvelle Résistance group, under the name Unité Radicale, but it was dissolved after Maxime Brunerie's failed assassination attempt on president

Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, ; ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and 1986 to 1988, as well as Mayor of Pari ...

. In 2004, the GUD reformed under the name . Its publication was ''Le Dissident''. In 2017 members of the GUD squatted a building in Lyon and founded political movement Social Bastion. In late 2022,

graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

appeared in educational institutions in Paris (including the

École Normale Supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

) saying "GUD is back"; a video was released on , a

Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...

channel used by the far right, commemorating some Greek neo-Nazis; and the GUD slogan “Europe, Youth, Revolution” appeared on stickers in Paris and chants at a right-wing demonstration in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. Its activists were reported to be drawn from far-right trade union La Cocarde Étudiante, the ultra-right group the

Zouaves The Zouaves () were a class of light infantry regiments of the French Army and other units modelled on it, which served between 1830 and 1962, and served in French North Africa. The zouaves were among the most decorated units of the French Army ...

traditionalist Catholics Traditionalist Catholicism is a movement that emphasizes beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, liturgical forms, devotions and presentations of teaching associated with the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). ...

from Versailles, and

football hooligans Football hooliganism, also known as soccer hooliganism, football rioting or soccer rioting, constitutes violence and other destructive behaviors perpetrated by spectators at association football events. Football hooliganism typically involves ...

Members

Successive leaders of the GUD were: Alain Robert, Jack Marchal, Jean-François Santacroce, Serge Rep, Philippe Cuignache, Charles-Henri Varaut,

Frédéric Chatillon Frédéric Chatillon (born 15 February 1968) is a French businessman. He worked as the communications adviser to former National Rally president Marine Le Pen. Biography Chatillon has been a "friend and confidant" of Le Pen since they were at ...

, William Bonnefoy, Benoît Fleury.

Military volunteers

Some GUD members have fought in

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. The religious diversity of the ...

with the

Kataeb Party The Kataeb Party (), officially the Kataeb Party – Lebanese Social Democratic Party ( '), also known as the Phalangist Party, is a right-wing Christian political party in Lebanon founded by Pierre Gemayel in 1936. The party and its parami ...

in 1976,

Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence) and (rarely) "War in Krajina" ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Рат у Крајини, Rat u Krajini) are used. was an armed conflict fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995 between Croats, Croat forces loyal to the Governmen ...

in the 1990s and in

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

during Karen conflict. In 1985 member of the GUD Jean-Philippe Courrèges was killed in action fighting for the

Karen National Liberation Army The Karen National Liberation Army (; abbreviated KNLA) is the military branch of the Karen National Union (KNU), which campaigns for the self-determination of the Karen people of Myanmar (formerly Burma). The KNLA has been fighting the Burmes ...

. GUD members have had links with the '' Department for Protection and Security'', which is the security organization of the far-right political party National Front. Former member of the GUD

was member of the FLNC.

References

Bibliography

* Frédéric Chatillon, Thomas Lagane et Jack Marchal (dir.), ''Les Rats maudits. Histoire des étudiants nationalistes 1965-1995'', Éditions des Monts d'Arrée, 1995, . *

Roger Griffin Roger David Griffin (born 31 January 1948) is a British professor of modern history and political theorist at Oxford Brookes University, England. His principal interest is the socio-historical and ideological dynamics of fascism, as well as v ...

, ''Net gains and GUD reactions: patterns of prejudice in a Neo-fascist groupuscule'',

Patterns of Prejudice Patterns of Prejudice is a peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated to the study of historical and contemporary intolerance and social exclusion. Published by Taylor & Francis, the articles are selected via a double-blind method, and publications ...

, vol. 33, n°2, 1999, p. 31-50. * Collectif, ''Bêtes et méchants. – Petite histoire des jeunes fascistes français'', Paris, Éditions Reflex, 2002, .

External links

GUD - ''Histoire des étudiants nationalistes 1965-1995'' (History of nationalist students 1965-1995)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Groupe Union Defense Student societies in France Far-right politics in France French nationalism Neo-fascist organizations Third Position Strasserism